Great catfish! Welcoming and friendly staff. Dinner buffet has fried catfish (whole and fillets), ribs, fried chicken, fried shrimp, and chicken spaghetti, with southern sides. Sweet tea just like granny makes it. There's a salad bar and an assortment of delicious desserts. Small town southern hospitality at its finest! read more

Pap's Place - Catfish, cabbage, greens, hush puppies - Desserts Near Me - Ackerman, Mississippi

Unique experience! Great fried Mississippi catfish! Buffet of all you can eat at night or you can order a plate serving.

"We don't mean to rob ya, we just want to fill your belly." That's Pap's motto. Unfortunately, I'm afraid they do mean to rob you, as my buffet meal was almost 17 dollars. I know buffets are expensive--it's all you can eat, of course--but I've had better and for much less, a la 9-12 bucks. Pap's may be worth it for the cultural experience--this place is rural Mississippi at its most glaring. Pastel colored walls, floral wallpaper, paneling, and paintings of Jesus, crown of thorns and all, adorn the walls. It's wild. The service, if you get the buffet, is pretty much absent after pouring your drinks. Didn't bother me, but it may bother some. Also, the lady who checked us out after we ate was kind of rude, definitely very unfriendly. Here is a breakdown of what I ate: Fried chicken: no breasts were available, so I ate a thigh. Above average chicken, with a tasty, crispy breading. 3.5/5, 4/5 as far as buffet chicken goes. Chicken spaghetti: uniformly soft, over salted, and made with obviously lesser cuts of meat. 2/5; it wasn't good, but it was edible. Hush puppies: these were really tasty. A little too greasy and a tad over fried but with nice flavor. 3.8/5. Mac and cheese: again, pasta was way too soft. Very cheesy, started with a good flavor but it kind of started to taste strange and chemical-ish as I went on. 3/5 French fries: they brought out a fresh batch as I was about to serve myself, so these were pretty decent. You can get better at pretty much any non-buffet style restaurant, but these were more than I expected. Generally, a 2.5/5, but per buffets, they were maybe a 3.8/5. Cornbread: just stay away. Flavorless, dry, and crumbling. 1/5. Brownie: way too dry and crumbly, much like the cornbread. Still dry, even with ice cream on top. The icing wasn't soft, either. 2/5 Ice cream: soft serve, tasted more like water and sugar rather than milk and sugar and cream. Still, ice cream is always good. 2/5. Overall, Pap's is a fun experience in terms of culture and people watching. It seems like the only restaurant in Ackerman, and it's not the worst choice. There's nothing explicitly wrong here, but nothing to blow you out of the water, either. It's almost a 3/5, but I just can't go there after thinking long and hard about the food. I enjoyed my experience, though. read more

Man......my son went to college in Starkville...Mississippi Sate. When we would come to visit & we'd pile his PGM buds in our van & head to Pap's. One of the guy's, (Bretsky), would wear his sweat pants because he would be soooo stuffed on banana puddin'......then he'd have to lay in the back of his buddy's pick-up all the way back to Starkville because he couldn't sit up straight......just miserable! Ya see, Bretsky had NEVER eaten Banana Puddin' before...... 'till we introduced him to Pap's. You go to Pap's & just like the little old lady says,....it's like " eatin' off the trough" ! ! Just good ole country cookin' at its VERY BEST !! My son still cherishes his Pap's Place t-shirt from the old college days! ! ! The Pap's Place Commercial is on You Tube....you might get a kick out of it ! Good Times! read more

See all

This restaurant was very disappointing. I used to go here all the time growing up; but haven't been back in years. Sadly, I won't return. The food was very bad and it was over priced. read more

Its got great homemade food just not much of a variety and I'm not much of a fish or chicken person

Food is pretty good but the PRICE is HORRIBLE!! $17 for a buffet is a bit much (had better buffets for lower price). Food is ok as long as it doesn't sit too long and then the fish gets a bit too hard. Overall, not a bad place to visit on occasion. read more

Around 1999 or so, during my time in Starkville, I saw a local commercial for a restaurant in Ackerman called "Pap's Place". It featured an adorable li'l old lady screaming at the top of her lungs about having "THE BEST DOGGONE MISSISSIPPI FARM RAISED CATFISH AND A DESSERT BAR AND A SALAD BAR" as well as her proclamation that Pap's Place "WON'T TRY TO ROB YOU, HONEY! WE'RE JUST HERE TO FILL YOUR BELLY!" Belly-filling? Absolutely true. Won't rob you? False. They robbed me, alright. They stole my heart. Pap's was on my short list of places to visit when I went back home in mid-June. And now that I'm a Yelper, I figured they deserve a review. To simply describe Pap's, it's a typical Southern fish-and-steak house, one that's only open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. You can certainly order off the menu, but the star of the show is the all-you-can-eat buffet. "Eatin' off the trough", as the aforementioned li'l old lady called it during one visit. On the "trough" is a collection of every kind of Southern-perfected food you can imagine. It is true that their catfish is sheer perfection. As is most everything on the bar. The ribs aren't to my specific liking, but people seem to like them well enough. The macaroni and cheese is ridiculously good. They even have chicken livers that, while sometimes too greasy to justify eating, still find their way to my plate on each visit because they're too good to pass up. The dessert bar is filled with classics, such as peach cobbler and sugar-coma-inducing caramel cake, as well as pineapple cheesecake and chocolate Oreo pudding. The decor is full of Southern charm, and by that, I mean scads of Elvis memorabilia. During Christmas, they have an animatronic Santa that sings "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" every time the door opens in a voice so creepy it defies description. It's amusing at first, infuriating the 15th time, and re-hilarious around the 50th time. You may think some parts of this review are tongue-in-cheek knocks on the place, but don't make that mistake: Everything adds up to a unique and fantastic dining experience. If you haven't been here, GO! If you have, then go again! read more

I went to Pap's Place with three friends. The staff was good and the menu large. I didn't find much on the buffet that was tasty. The restroom was below average and had to walk pass the kitchen to go there. The kitchen look very sloppy and in need of a good cleaning. Friends told me they knew this but like the atmosphere of the place. Two friends had fried fish, something I don't eat ( and they enjoyed it) and I had chicken and dumplings ( it was ok). All other meats I tried was not my taste. They have a large selection of deserts, but I found them liking also. It is not in my plans to return. read more

Not impressed. Better get there early or the buffet will disappoint - "we're not here to rob you, we're just here to fill your belly". Well the price is high for the quality of food. read more

The BEST buffet restaurant around! I live about 45 mins away and its really worth the drive. The hospitality is great. Their whole staff is very friendly and they treat u like family. They serve good southern home cooked food at great prices. Where else can u get a juicy ribeye steak with baked potato and salad for only13 dollars (this usually runs about 16 to 20 dollars at other places). read more

This is a great place. Friendly, lots of food, great fish, wonderful, wonderful , wonderful. Quirky setup and just enough out of the ordinary to be interesting! Martha below is a snooty non-fish eating snob who won't sit on the toilet except at home.... Ignore her! This place is the bomb and I go out of my way to go on my trips across America. This place is about America! If you want a chain restaurant with all the bland in the World and a bathroom that is not past the kitchen avoid Pap's, but if you want great people, great food and life. Stop! read more

we go there quite often and i think for the food which is cat fish shrimp barb ribs and chicken and any thing else you might want .it is not a bad price. the deserts are to die for the bread pudding is del. every thing we have ate is good. the only thing i might suggest is new chairs other then that just think it has been there at least 40 years or longer so if you go don't expect to have fancy place or food for 17 a plate it is ran by good christian people or they seem to be i have never been disappointed in any thing . hope their around along time. May god continue to bless them. read more